Most babies begin signing back after about two to eight weeks of consistent exposure, though the exact timeline depends on when you start and how often you practice. If you introduce signs around six to nine months of age, which is the window most experts recommend, you can reasonably expect your baby’s first sign somewhere between eight and twelve months old. A parent who begins signing “milk” and “more” at seven months, for instance, might see their baby clumsily mimicking “more” at dinnertime around nine months, well before the child can say the word out loud. But “working” means different things to different families. For some, success is that first awkward hand gesture at the high chair.
For others, it is a toddler who can tell you she wants water instead of screaming about it. Research funded by the National Institutes of Health found that children exposed to signing understood more words by fifteen months and were speaking at a forty-seven-month level by the time they turned three, nearly a full year ahead of non-signing peers. Those results are impressive, though as we will discuss, the broader body of research is more complicated than the headlines suggest. This article covers the realistic timeline for baby sign language milestones, the best age to start, what the research actually says about long-term benefits, practical strategies to speed up the process, and common pitfalls that stall progress. It also addresses the honest limitations of the evidence so you can set expectations that are grounded in fact rather than marketing.
Table of Contents
- When Should You Start Baby Sign Language and How Long Until Baby Signs Back?
- What Does the Research Actually Say About Baby Sign Language Benefits?
- Why Some Babies Sign Faster Than Others
- The Best Strategy for Getting Results Quickly
- Common Reasons Baby Sign Language Stalls and What to Watch For
- What First Signs to Expect and What They Look Like
- The Long View on Baby Sign Language
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
When Should You Start Baby Sign Language and How Long Until Baby Signs Back?
The short answer is that you should start between six and eight months, and you should expect to wait. Babies develop the physical dexterity and cognitive ability to attend to and imitate gestures at around six months of age, according to Cleveland Clinic and Pathways.org. You can technically introduce signs from birth to build familiarity, but babies generally cannot sign back until after six months regardless of when you begin. Starting at three months does not mean your baby will sign at four months. It means your baby will have seen more repetitions by the time she is developmentally ready to respond. Once you begin consistent daily signing with a baby in the six-to-nine-month range, research from Tiny Signs suggests first signs typically appear within six to twelve weeks. Other sources narrow this to two to eight weeks for babies who get frequent, motivated exposure.
One study found that babies produced their first sign at an average age of approximately eight and a half months. The range matters here. A baby who starts at six months and signs back at eight months has taken roughly eight weeks. A baby who starts at eight months and signs back at ten months has also taken about eight weeks. The starting age shifts the calendar date, but the learning window stays roughly the same. By ten to fourteen months, most babies have consistent signing established, meaning they are not just imitating you once in a while but actively using signs to communicate needs. Compare this with spoken language: most children do not say their first meaningful word until around twelve months, and many do not have a functional vocabulary until fifteen to eighteen months. Signing gives babies a communication tool during that gap, which is the entire practical argument for it.
What Does the Research Actually Say About Baby Sign Language Benefits?
The most frequently cited study on baby sign language was funded by the NIH and led by researchers Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. They divided 103 eleven-month-old infants into three groups: thirty-two families taught to sign, thirty-two taught to emphasize verbal labeling, and thirty-seven given no intervention. Language assessments at fifteen, nineteen, twenty-four, thirty, and thirty-six months showed that signing children understood more words from fifteen months onward and used more words and longer sentences from age two through age three compared to both control groups. A follow-up at age eight found that the signing group scored a mean IQ of 114 on the WISC-III, compared to 102 for the no-intervention group, a twelve-point advantage on both verbal and performance subscales. However, the broader research landscape is far less tidy. A systematic review covering published articles from 1980 to 2003 identified 1,208 studies, but only seventeen met inclusion criteria for rigorous review. Of those seventeen, thirteen reported benefits but had methodological weaknesses that leave the evidence technically unconfirmed.
One randomized controlled study tracking babies from eight to twenty months found that while babies learned and used signs successfully, doing so made no significant impact on their language development compared to controls. If you are signing primarily because you believe it will raise your child’s IQ or accelerate speech, you should know the evidence for those claims is promising but not settled. Some research suggests that signing may benefit lower-ability children most, producing large increases in communicative ability for children who are otherwise slower to develop language, rather than providing equal gains across the board. This is worth knowing because it means the dramatic results you read about online may not reflect your child’s experience if your child is already on a typical or advanced developmental trajectory. None of this means signing is a waste of time. No studies have reported any adverse effects of baby sign language on typical language development. The worst-case scenario, according to the available evidence, is that your baby learns some signs and you spend more focused interaction time together.
Why Some Babies Sign Faster Than Others
Developmental readiness is the biggest variable, but it is not the only one. A baby with an older sibling who talks constantly lives in a different language environment than a firstborn in a quieter household. Temperament matters too. Some babies are natural imitators who will mimic a hand gesture the same way they mimic a funny face. Others are observers who absorb input for weeks before producing anything. A parent of twins might find one baby signing “more” at nine months while the other does not sign until eleven months, despite identical exposure. Consistency of exposure is the factor you can actually control.
Signing “milk” once during a Tuesday morning feeding and then forgetting about it for the rest of the week is not consistent exposure. Signing “milk” every time you offer a bottle or breast, every day, while saying the word out loud, is. Michigan State University Extension notes that babies understand signs before they produce them. This means your baby may be comprehending “milk” for weeks before she ever moves her hand. That silent comprehension phase is real progress, even though it does not look like anything is happening. Motivation also plays a role. Babies are more likely to sign for things they want badly. This is why experts recommend starting with high-desire words like “milk,” “more,” and “eat” rather than abstract concepts like “gentle” or “please.” A ten-month-old who loves bananas has a strong incentive to figure out the sign for “more.” The same baby may have zero interest in signing “hat.”.
The Best Strategy for Getting Results Quickly
Cleveland Clinic recommends starting with just a few signs, being consistent, and always saying the word aloud while signing. This last point is critical: signing is meant to supplement spoken language, not replace it. Pairing the sign with the spoken word builds two pathways to meaning simultaneously. A family that signs silently is missing the point and potentially slowing down the process. The tradeoff is between breadth and depth. Some parents want to teach twenty signs right away because the idea is exciting and the baby sign language book has a glossary of two hundred options. But spreading your attention across too many signs means each individual sign gets fewer repetitions per day.
Experts recommend starting with three to five high-frequency signs and adding more only after your baby shows recognition of the initial set. If you start with “milk,” “more,” “eat,” and “all done,” and your baby is reliably signing “more” after six weeks, that is your cue to introduce “water,” “help,” or “dog.” Trying to teach ten signs in the first week is like trying to teach a first-grader ten new vocabulary words per day. Technically possible, practically counterproductive. There is also a tradeoff between structured signing sessions and naturalistic signing throughout the day. Sitting down for a dedicated five-minute signing practice can feel productive, but babies learn language through context, not flashcards. Signing “eat” when you are actually putting food in front of your child, in the moment when the word has real meaning, is more effective than signing “eat” during a practice session when no food is present. The most successful approach combines both: brief intentional practice and constant real-world reinforcement.
Common Reasons Baby Sign Language Stalls and What to Watch For
The most common reason parents feel baby sign language is not working is that they quit during the receptive phase. Your baby may understand several signs but not yet have the motor control or the motivation to produce them. If you stop signing at week four because nothing is happening, you may be abandoning the effort two weeks before breakthrough. This is especially common with babies who start signing at six months, because six-month-olds have less hand control than nine-month-olds, so their receptive phase can last longer. Another common stall happens when only one caregiver signs. If one parent signs throughout the day but the other parent, grandparents, and daycare providers do not, the baby gets inconsistent input.
This does not make signing impossible, but it slows things down. The more people in the baby’s life who use the same signs in the same contexts, the faster the baby connects sign to meaning. A genuine limitation to acknowledge: the claim that baby sign language reduces tantrums and frustration is widely repeated but weakly supported. A review of online information about baby signing found that over ninety percent of website content promoting these benefits relies on opinion articles or promotional material rather than research-based evidence. The British Psychological Society has suggested that whatever benefit exists may come not from the signs themselves but from the enhanced joint visual attention that happens during parent-child signing interactions. In other words, the focused eye contact and shared attention you give your baby while signing may be the active ingredient, not the hand shapes. This does not diminish the value of the practice, but it does mean you should not expect signing to be a magic antidote for toddler meltdowns.
What First Signs to Expect and What They Look Like
Your baby’s first sign will probably not look like the sign you have been modeling. A baby who is trying to sign “more” might clap her hands together roughly instead of bringing her fingertips to touch in a neat pinch. A baby signing “milk” might just open and close a fist in the general direction of a bottle. These approximations count. They are the equivalent of a baby saying “ba” for bottle.
The meaning is there even if the execution is imperfect. The most commonly reported first signs are “more,” “milk,” “eat,” and “all done,” which aligns with expert recommendations to start with these high-frequency, high-motivation words. Parents sometimes miss early signs because they are looking for precision that a baby’s hands cannot yet deliver. If your nine-month-old makes a repetitive hand movement every time food appears, pay attention. Film it, show it to your partner, and see if it happens again. You may already be further along than you think.
The Long View on Baby Sign Language
Regardless of where the research eventually settles on IQ points and language acceleration, the practical value of baby sign language is difficult to argue against. A baby who can tell you she wants more food, that she is done eating, or that she sees a dog across the street is a baby who is communicating months earlier than she otherwise would. That experience, both for the baby and for the parents, has value that does not require a peer-reviewed study to validate. As your child’s spoken vocabulary grows, typically between fifteen and twenty-four months, signs will naturally fade from use. Babies drop signs once they can say the word faster than they can sign it.
This transition is normal and expected. Some families continue signing beyond toddlerhood because they enjoy it or because they want to introduce their child to American Sign Language as a second language. Others stop the moment speech takes over. Neither approach is wrong. The signing served its purpose during the gap between comprehension and speech, and what you do with it after that is a matter of personal preference, not developmental necessity.
Conclusion
Baby sign language typically takes two to eight weeks of consistent practice before you see your first sign, with most babies producing signs independently between eight and twelve months of age. The keys to success are starting in the six-to-eight-month developmental window, choosing a small number of high-motivation signs, pairing every sign with the spoken word, and being patient through the receptive phase when your baby understands but cannot yet respond. The strongest research suggests signing children may develop language advantages that persist into early childhood, though the evidence base has real limitations that honest reporting requires acknowledging. Your next step is simple: pick three signs that matter most in your baby’s daily routine, likely “milk,” “more,” and “all done,” and commit to using them consistently for the next six weeks.
Say the word every time you make the sign. Get your partner and other caregivers on board. Do not track progress daily. Instead, look for recognition cues like your baby watching your hands or getting excited when you sign “milk” before a feeding. Those cues mean the system is working, even if your baby’s hands have not caught up yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I start baby sign language before six months?
You can introduce signs from birth to build recognition and make signing a habit for yourself, but babies generally cannot sign back until after six months due to motor and cognitive development timelines. Starting earlier does not hurt anything, but it will not produce earlier results from the baby.
Will baby sign language delay my child’s speech?
No. No studies have reported any adverse effects of baby sign language on typical language development. The NIH-funded Acredolo and Goodwyn study found that signing children actually spoke more words and used longer sentences than non-signing peers from age two through age three. Always say the word aloud while signing to reinforce spoken language simultaneously.
My baby is ten months old and has not signed back after a month of practice. Should I be worried?
Not necessarily. Some babies take up to twelve weeks of consistent exposure before producing their first sign. Babies understand signs before they produce them, so your baby may be in the receptive comprehension phase. Look for signs of recognition, such as the baby looking at the right object when you sign, or getting excited in anticipation. If you have concerns about your child’s overall development, consult your pediatrician.
Does baby sign language actually reduce tantrums?
This is widely claimed but not well supported by rigorous research. Over ninety percent of online content promoting this benefit relies on opinion or promotional material rather than peer-reviewed studies. Some researchers suggest that the focused interaction during signing, rather than the signs themselves, may be what helps. Signing can give babies a way to express basic needs, which may reduce some frustration, but it should not be expected to eliminate tantrums.
How many signs should I teach at once?
Start with three to five high-frequency signs like “milk,” “more,” “eat,” and “all done.” Add new signs only after your baby shows recognition of the initial set. Trying to introduce too many signs at once dilutes the repetition each sign receives and can slow progress.
Do all babies benefit equally from sign language?
Research from the University of North Carolina suggests that signing may benefit lower-ability children most, producing large gains for children who are otherwise slower to develop language. Children already on an advanced trajectory may see less dramatic results. However, even for typically developing children, signing provides a functional communication tool during the months before speech emerges.